Seeth Assimilators
The Seeth Assimilators, also known as the Seeth Empire, are a conglomerate of various alien races led by the Dammill "master" race, which have conquered or otherwise taken many habitable planets at frightening speed within a few hundred years. The Assimilators take their name from their widespread incorporation of other intelligent species into their sprawling empire. The Seeth and their assimilated "brother" species inhabit hundreds of worlds and are currently fighting 13 full scale wars on many planets along with internal insurgency and other major hostilities, usually in the form of unofficial organisations such as insurrectionist groups and race centric radicals. Naming, unknown origins and the Destroyer The actual origins of the Dammill are largely unknown and unrecorded. This is because before the Dammill had re-developed the means to travel to other planets, they were as a race misguided and with no knowledge of their species past. However ancient ruins were found the Dammill homeworld, Vekkian, along with the fossilised remains of thousands of Dammill, with many thousand more likely undiscovered and even then likely millions that were never preserved. This hugely pointed to the fact that the Dammill were the subject of a global war or genocide. Two popular theories quickly emerged. One, that the Dammill fought a civil war which destroyed their records, technology, and history and near annihilated their people, and two, that an intelligent race or thing, which came to be known as the Destroyer, near obliterated their species, but left many alive and almost destroyed their means to again take to the stars, and possibly brainwashing or erasing the memories of the survivors and eradicating any proof that the Destroyer(s) was ever there. Although some information and items relating to the event was recovered, (the word Seeth being one) nothing was found to prove attack by an outside species. Because of the natural curiousity of the Dammill, many widely accepted the theory of the Destroyer even though there was, at the time no evidence to back it up. The idea of a near extermination at the hands of a hostile lifeform also posed significant questions. Why were the Dammill spared, or at least not brought under Destroyer rule? Many believed their ancestors had ironically, destroyed the Destroyer which prevented their species total annihilation, but with no knowledge of the Destroyers, or even their own ancestors military capabilities, this idea cast doubt in many minds. The event came to be known, funnily enough as the Near Apocalypse. Vekkian World War While the two theorys, along with many others refering to the Dammill races near destruction, were the source of huge tension among both individuals and worldwide governments, other factors attributed to the Vekkian World War (1798-1800 Earth years). Vekkian, despite its blood stained history, was still largely a paradise. As six nations began to tear up their homeworld, a seventh nation, Harakonen, a country which favoured science, knowledge and thinking over brute force, quickly began developing a way to end the war. A prototype Duvaren missle was launched at the Merr capital, the country which had supposedly started the engagement. Two days later the five remaining viable nations surrendered. Although the overall cost in lives was only around 250'000, it was the most costly civil war the Dammill had ever fought, and the Dammill Council leaders, formed with representatives of all nations and lead by the victorious Harakonen, vowed to never again allow another war amongst the Dammill. Golden Age and Tierians With the one planet as a whole, the Dammill began to research a means to improve their lives and to leave their world and explore the unknown. Huge and constant advances in many fields largely benefited the entire race, cures for many diseases were discovered and the Dammill began to live longer and healthier lives. Robotic Automatons called Tierians (after the metal they were created from) were also made, primarily used as slaves, workers and soldiers. However when the Dammill gave the Tierians artifical intelligence to better perform their tasks, they quickly became self aware and strangely formed an interconnected intelligence. Terrified, the Dammill looked for a way to shut down or destroy them, all attempts to change their programming failed, and their robust design rendered them highly resilient against most forms of weaponry. Instead a much more peaceful solution was found and agreed on by the Dammill council, they were granted full citizenship and rights and to be treated as regular people. This was benifical to both parties, the Dammill had the Tierians to perform tasks the Dammill could not do, and the Tierians developed an extensive understanding of their organic masters. There were of course, those who disapproved the decision, after they had achieved sentience many radical groups emerged "murdering" hundreds of Tierians. To counter this all offences against a Tierian were made to equate to the same as those actions if they were made against a Dammill (such as intentional killing treated as murder and punishable by death). The anti-Tierian groups were labelled as terrorists and were hunted down and utterly destroyed. Many Tierians modified themselves to think, look and sound more like the Dammill and began to covet them, worshipping them as gods. Synthetic substances which was able to mimic Dammil tissue was discovered and many Tierians modified themselves, making them near identical to Dammill, effectively making them androids. The Tierians constantly longed for a way to experience emotion, continuous attempts at advancing their programming were made, but it is highly debatable, and unknown if they have ever achieved actual emotion, though many Tierians have claimed to, which is evidence enough for many Dammill (ie: lying, in the eyes of some ironically proves that their emotion is true). The main current use for Tierians in the military is as elite units, particularly in areas inhospitable to Dammill and other Seeth races. With the help of the Tierians, the Dammill entered a golden age of wealth and prosperity. The Duvaren company, which had created the missle which devastated the Merr capital during the World War, began developing rockets and high powered space telescopes. Within months rockets had given way to space shuttles, which soon gave way to fully fledged starships. First Contact Some of the first Dammill spaceships were huge resource collecting vessels called Harvesters, essentially a mobile mining station in space, these ships were used to land on resource rich planets, set up operations for a very long period of time, then return to the Dammill homeworld. The Harvesters were so large a crew of hundreds was needed to properly maintain and run them. In 1825 when a Harvester designated 2-32 on a seemingly inhospitable and uninhabited world failed to return to Vekkian at its scheduled time, a military scout ship was dispatched to investigate. Its small team of marines found some of the Harvesters crew, both alive and dead, and the vessel now overrun and populated by an unidentified and hostile alien race. While the soldiers had huge success against the invaders who were at a seemingly near prehistoric level of technology, the aliens numbering in the thousands had taken the entire ship. Realising that much more firepower would be needed to cleanse the entire Harvester, the scout ship returned to Vekkian, bringing back alien corpses for study, while recently built, dedicated military starships were deployed to retake the vessel. Back on the homworld, Dammill scientists had made a startling discovery. While the alien lifeforms were larger and stronger than Dammill and different in many ways, they had several strands of DNA which matched the Dammill species, the newly encountered aliens were heavily mutated Dammill, upon discovering this the warships sent to the still unnamed planet were put on standby, although the order had came through after they had secured the Harvester. While it was known that Dammill could heavily adapt and evolve according to their surroundings over many generations, the only cause of this for the Vekkain Dammill was the slight changes in climate and environment in some areas of Vekkian, which led to little genetic diversity within the species originating from the homeworld. Most so far encountered worlds were heavily unsuitable habitats for Vekkians Dammill, therefore no permanent colonies were created, further dening genetic enhancement or alteration. The Dammill recovered from 2-32 looked similar to Vekkains Dammill in that they were bipedal and had the same general shape, however that was where the similarities ended. While Vekkains Dammill had hair and smooth pale blue skin, the aliens were bald and their skin was grey and rough. Vekkian Dammill had slightly pointed ears, while the aliens ears were practically nonexistant save for small holes in the sides of their heads and their noses were simply a slit below and between the eyes. Vekkians had four long fingers while the aliens had three claws. The planet where the aliens had been discovered was inhospitable to Vekkians, the atmosphere contained little oxygen and a Dammill would likely die without an oxygen mask, however the aliens had adapted and were able to survive with very little air. After extensive study, researchers ruled out the possibility of genetic tampering from an outside source, the changes were entirely due to environment, however the changes would have occured much, much faster than what was previously anticipated and accepted as possible in a Dammill. The Dammill, in what was largely a massive science experiment, established colonies made up of convicts in the few discovered worlds that could just barely sustain Dammill life, simply to study the changes in its populace over time. When researchers concluded the aliens had degraded into an animalistic state and could in no way be communicated or reasoned with, the Dammill government in an attempt to hide what had taken place at 2-32 from the public, destroyed or kept hidden all records and the aliens were dismissed as an entirely different species of barbaric savages. Any who tried to spread word of the truth were charged with treason and executed or imprisoned. The planet was removed from all star charts, and the world was left alone. Rapid Expansion As the Dammill began to grow, new planets capable of supporting a wide array of life were constantly being discovered. Colonies were founded and mineral rich worlds were mined extensively to fuel the ever increasing race. Other intelligent life was found, some of which was similar to what was encountered during the Harvester 2-77 Incident (Dammill with hugely or slightly different genetic structure) which was incorporated into Dammill society, either through negotiation or submission. The Dammill called their new empire the Seeth, a word which was recovered from ancient texts on Vekkian, meaning to unite or bond. The Destroyer legend (the need to defend against an impending apocalypse), along with their own selfish goals are the motivators of Seeth aggression and expansion. More and more species were assimilated and planets claimed, and a strong repressive government is needed to keep so many people and races in check. Military Police known as Enforcers extensively patrol the streets in most cities often punishing the slightest felony with death, terrorism and killings are commonplace. Many planets native species are hostile, however the Seeth obsession with ruling over all in sight sends many Legions of soldiers to their deaths, dying in hellish lands far from home while just as many citizens die from starvation, murder, and disease while unrest develops. At times the death rate of soldiers alone is greater than the birth rate empire wide. Many Tierians are created as mindless slaves for the sole purpose of killing the Seeths many enemies and are deployed by the thousands. Technolgy from enslaved or destroyed races is reverse engineered, augmenting the Seeths mighty military capability. Some of the less useful forms of sentient life that impede or oppose Seeth progress are exterminated completely rather than used as slaves, as their planets are harvested. The Seeth's head of government has been assassinated and replaced over a dozen times over, however government is constantly reinstated. Many Legions are recalled from far away battlefields to fight their own countrymen, entire armies disobey and rebel, locking the entire empire in a stalemate of many constant wars and turmoil. The Seeth eventually come to a much greater time and continue to more easily survive, create, and develop, but never again reach the prosperity of Vekkians golden age.